Their silence was deafening. Watch the video: https://t.co/fNsPlVZtYt pic.twitter.com/rthurjQIub

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 22, 2023

Fox hosts decry liberal “virtue signaling” as overt and presumably insincere efforts to promote a (typically liberal) cause.  They’ve demeaned it as performance art to placate special interest groups–y’know, like women–while doing nothing to solve the real problems that need to be addressed, like high taxes and the oppression of white Christian men.

But don’t let Fox’s own personal hypocrisy stand in the way of using its own virtue signaling to denounce the US women’s national soccer team as insufficiently patriotic for Fox standards.  Showing video of many of team members standing silently and respectfully while the “Star-Spangled Banner” is played prior to their match, Fox noted that the players didn’t sing, something they viewed as disrespectful even though there is no rule or law requiring citizens sing while the song is played.  Fox just made up that in its own passing grade for patriotism, “virtue signaling” of what they demand, and setting their angry audience on the targets of their displeasure.

Demanding overt signs of patriotism–like the made-up requirement that only those who sing the lyrics to the national anthem are nationalist enough to pass a subjective patriotism test administered by a partisan authority–is a sign of fascism:  there could never be too many Nazi banners hanging along the streets of Berchtesgaden.  And now, the conservative propaganda network hopes to target their angry viewers on a team of women proudly representing their nation in an international competition because they’re (1) independent women who speak out for equal pay, (2) openly support rights for women and the LGBTQ community and (3) proudly represent their country as they promote those beliefs on the world stage.  In short, the USWNT is doing more to successfully promote the values of average Americans on the world. stage than either the GOP or Fox, and Fox cannot allow that to stand.